"Ding, ding, ding—"
While everyone was still reeling from the astonishing revelation that Angel would be competing, a succession of midnight bells rang out across Crocus—
It was now midnight!
"Good morning, everyone participating in the Grand Magic Games!" Just as everyone was wondering what was happening, a cheerful voice suddenly echoed throughout Crocus. "To narrow our eleven participating teams down to eight, the preliminary round will now begin!"
The moment the announcement ended, an enormous three-dimensional projection of a figure with a pumpkin head appeared in the sky over Crocus.
"Heh, so that's it. No wonder they wanted all the competitors back at their inns before midnight. There was a preliminary round." Makarov approached the window and looked up at the projection of the Pumpkin Man, his expression puzzled. "Still, since when did the Kingdom have this many guilds?"
He was not the only one. Ever since the Pumpkin Man announced the preliminaries, bewildered discussions had broken out all across Crocus. Everyone was puzzled by the addition of a preliminary round, since there had never been one in previous years.
Before they could reach any conclusions, however, the enormous projection of the Pumpkin Man explained the reason for the change—
"Every year, more guilds enter, but the competition itself keeps getting less interesting. We've received a steady stream of criticism about that in recent years!" The Pumpkin Man waved his arms and legs comically. "So this time, only eight teams will compete in this year's main tournament! And the rules, hehehe, are very simple—"
Achill vanished in a flash, then appeared beside Le Qi, who was holding Angel, and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Achi—" Puzzled, Le Qi was about to ask him something when the floor beneath her suddenly shook violently and tilted! Had Achill not steadied